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It makes one wonder then, how you explain all elements in the universe heavier than iron.

The heavier elements were formed by fusion in stars. The heavy elements produced (such as, say nickel or copper) have atomic masses greater than the two lighter elements that they were made from. The process is endothermic - meaning it consumes energy. The energy - which is photons - is converted to mass.

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It makes one wonder then, how you explain all elements in the universe heavier than iron.

The heavier elements were formed by fusion in stars. The heavy elements produced (such as, say nickel or copper) have atomic masses greater than the two lighter elements that they were made from. The process is endothermic - meaning it consumes energy. The energy - which is photons - is converted to mass.

Well what i was reading about recently is that in 2014, physicists at Imperial College London designed an experimental setup that could do just that. In the design, a particle accelerator would be built to collide high-energy photons rather than high-energy protons . Photons would be accelerated from two directions by a high-energy laser, and then smashed into gold plates. The stream of photons would pass through the plates into an evacuated gold chamber, creating collisions between photons. According to the setup, some of these collisions about 100,000 of them would result in the production of electrons and anti-electrons. It’s an exciting new idea, and several labs are working on the experimental design.

What is more, we have just got a nice piece of experimental confirmation of the production of gold and other elements heavier than iron, in the gravitational wave event that has been in the press in that day or two. We have two neutron stars colliding, generating gravitational waves whose direction corresponds to a visible event in the sky, in which spectra of heavy metals can actually be seen.

For myself I don't . But many think that all the Universe is , light .

Matter to me is very much different . While frequences of the electromagnetic spectrum are inbedded IN matter , light itself cannot on its own , form matter , or an atom .

Perhaps I'm wrong , but if I am , how so .

Click to expand...

They are wrong to think the universe is light. Try this:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Model
A recently published physics primer might help. It might be a little difficult, but worth the effort in my opinion, to even slightly understand the soup (the universe). You get those 'Oh, that's why.' moments learning physics, because it exposes the basic principles found in other sciences.
BTW, matter (the elements) is made of energetic particles. Maybe that is what was meant by frequencies embedded in matter. Stars are made mostly of hydrogen and helium atoms, which fuse at the temperatures and pressures of a star to make the elements.